How can the Chinese Super League recover the costs after investing so much this year?

Guangdong media: Can the crazy Chinese Super League become "Chinese banknotes" and just spend money to recover the cost?

2016-02-27 10:11:56 Source: NetEase Sports

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At 0:00 Beijing time today, the 2016 Chinese Super League winter transfer window officially closed - this means that the top 16 have completed the arms race and are about to usher in the most "trenched" Chinese Super League season in history.

Looking back on the entire winter window transfer period, the "purchasing power" of the Chinese Super League is shocking, surpassing the Premier League for the first time and becoming the first in the world. One after another, internationally renowned big-name foreign players have landed in the Chinese Super League, constantly setting new prices for the "King of Standards", and the transfer values ??of domestic players have also skyrocketed. It's no wonder that the outside world has nicknamed this year's Chinese Super League as the "Chinese Super League." Can the crazy "money winnings" truly transform the Chinese Super League into the "Sixth League in the World"? I'm afraid this question mark will have to wait until the end of this season to be straightened out.

Guangzhou Daily reporter Zhang Zhe and Xie Zekai

The Great Leap Forward signings have changed hands

In this winter transfer window, Guangzhou Evergrande is no longer a hot spot for signings The "leaders", Jiangsu Suning and the "promoted horse" Hebei China Fortune are the new protagonists. These two clubs have brought the Chinese Super League into the super "Great Leap Forward Era" of signings. Judging from preliminary statistics, the combined investment of Shenhua, SIPG, Guoan, Luneng, R&F and TEDA in this winter window is not as much as that of Suning.

After Suning and Hebei, Evergrande, Shenhua, Shanghai SIPG, Guoan, and Luneng have also invested more than 20 million euros. The above seven clubs are regarded as the "first group" of this year's Chinese Super League and are regarded by the outside world. Comparable to the "Seven Sisters of Serie A" back then. The total investment of the top 16 Chinese Super League in this winter window has increased nearly five times compared with the figure five years ago.

With the crazy investment of the major "rich clubs", the value of the "standard king" of domestic and foreign aid this year continues to "become a star". SIPG first signed Elkeson for 18.5 million euros, breaking Goulart's transfer record last year. Suning then introduced Ramirez for 28 million euros, causing public outcry.

Subsequently, Evergrande bought Martinez for 42 million euros. Unexpectedly, Suning would make another big move two days later and introduce Teixeira for 50 million euros. Compared with the "standard king" Barrios 5 years ago, Teixeira's price has increased nearly 6 times. Although the transfer price for Argentine striker Lavezzi, who joined Hebei Huaxia, is not high, it is rumored that the annual salary offered by the club has risen to nearly 20 million euros, ranking third in the world.

In terms of domestic aid, the top bid this year is Bi Jinhao, who joined Shenhua for 11.14 million euros, which is equivalent to 80 million yuan in RMB. Many small and medium-sized clubs also took advantage of this opportunity to sell local players whose prices have soared at high prices. Among them, Guangzhou R&F, Hangzhou Greentown and Liaoning are the most typical.

The integration of foreign aid is difficult and management becomes a hidden danger

Super "purchasing power" does not mean that it can be transformed into immediate combat effectiveness. In the first round of the AFC Champions League that just passed, the Chinese Super League BIG4 has exposed this problem, especially Suning. All three super foreign players failed to get back 3 points in the away game in Vietnam. Suning's current team is already very luxurious, but without a famous coach and no running-in, it is still difficult to call it a first-class team. This problem may gradually improve with the start of the new Chinese Super League season.

Among the sky-high-priced foreign players who have poured into the Chinese Super League this year, 19 are from European leagues, and 6 of them participated in last season’s Champions League. This group of super foreign players is basically composed of South American players and focuses on the offensive end, which is no different from previous years. Among them, Brazil has as many as 7 international players. No wonder even the Brazilian national team coach Dunga is ready to retract his statement of "not selecting national players from the Chinese Super League."

These super foreign players must take time to adapt to the Super League environment, the differences in weather, venue and food, and integrate into the new tactical system. For the "rich" clubs, how to manage these super big names is also a problem. The secret to Evergrande's success in the past few years is the club's professional management model, such as how to balance the interests between big-name foreign players and domestic players, how to restrain and motivate big-name foreign players, etc. Like Suning's Teixeira, there has been news recently that "he just wants to make enough money in the Chinese Super League as soon as possible and then return to the European League." Once management fails to keep up, not only will it be impossible to replicate Evergrande's success, but even huge investments will be in vain!

There are few youth training talents and high-priced domestic players

In addition to investment and management, the success of the "Evergrande Model" is also an indispensable part of having a large number of domestic players. Top-notch local players. Although the current Chinese Super League upstarts have enough funds to copy Evergrande's investment model, there are fewer and fewer good local players and they are almost exhausted. The transfer fee for Bi Jinhao to join Shenhua was as high as 11.14 million euros, and R&F center back Yu Yang was asked for 90 million yuan - which was simply a fantasy in the past two years.

The main reason for the inflated value of domestic players is that there are too few excellent reserve talents. As a result, major giants have to "pay" for the weak youth training of Chinese football in the past few decades in the domestic transfer market this year. In addition to paying a premium of more than 10 times in exchange for the few outstanding local players left in the country, a large number of "young national players" who were gold-plated overseas have also returned one after another, such as Xu Xin, Li Yuanyi, and Li Yuanyi from the National Youth League between 1993 and 1996. Han Pengfei, Xie Pengfei and others were bought out by many wealthy families one after another.

The sky-high prices of domestic aid and the return of overseas young players have also plunged the agency market into chaos during this winter window. If the Chinese Football Association does not introduce a policy similar to the NBA's salary cap and encourage and guide clubs to invest more in youth training, the bubble bursting point of the Chinese Super League will come early.

Can the 8 billion yuan investment in copyright be recovered?

The Chinese Super League’s crazy investment in this winter window stems from the sky-high price of 8 billion yuan in copyright sales for five years last year. The purchaser of the five-year copyright will pay the Chinese Super League 1 billion yuan each year for the first two years, and 2 billion yuan each year for the next three years. The average annual share received by each of the 16 Chinese Super League teams is only tens of millions of yuan. However, the Chinese Super League’s investment in this winter window has exceeded 2 billion yuan. This does not include this summer’s transfer expenses and huge club salaries and operating expenses. The tens of millions in copyright sharing may be a drop in the bucket.

It is currently impossible to judge whether the purchaser of the 8 billion copyright can "recover the money". This requires observing the performance of the Chinese Super League in the next five years. The current copyright buyer has sold the exclusive new media rights of the Chinese Super League for 2.7 billion yuan in the next two seasons. This is a huge bet on the prospects of the Chinese Super League. But can the bet win? Still an unknown.

Author: Guangzhou Daily

Source of this article: NetEase Sports